PITTSBURGH — Darrin Kelly, a union man, knows exactly what message a Democrat needs in order to carry Pennsylvania in 2020.
“We want a candidate that puts workers first. And when I mean workers, I mean all workers,” he says. “Workers in the service industry, workers in the energy industry, and workers in the building trades, public employees; someone that doesn’t pick and choose what union they chose to work with, someone that represents all of us. That is the candidate that we want and that we’re eager to support,” said Kelly, a city firefighter and the president of the influential Allegheny Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Kelly was standing in a sea of Democratic committee members at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ union hall on the city’s South Side. His sole purpose that day was to urge every committee member walking through that door to vote for candidates that were endorsed by the labor council he runs.
A series of colorful tents were behind him lining the sidewalk, all filled with candidates, their brochures, as well as cookies and hot dogs in an attempt to lure a wavering committee person to their side.
The nominating event is one part tailgate party and one part serious business. While this particular nominating day was for local elections, Kelly is looking ahead. He knows too many of his labor council members voted for President Trump in 2016, and his job is to make sure the Democrats nominate the best candidate next year.
“That begins with picking someone who has the back of the working women and men, all of them,” he emphasizes.
Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb walks up and shakes the union leader’s hand. Lamb might never have won his narrow special election last March without Kelly’s help.
Kelly knows what wins here, and he knew that the powerful labor vote would lift up the soft-spoken Marine who vowed to have the back of the union worker.
As the national Democratic Party has moved left, the Keystone State has not followed. Since the 1996 presidential elections, the state has become a little more Republican every four years, ultimately giving Trump the first Republican win in the state since 1988.
Kelly doesn’t like to estimate the number of his labor workforce who voted for Trump.
“It was uncomfortably high, and that falls on us. That falls on labor, for not telling our members what was important, and that’s why we’re on a great track now, is that our message is completely about what is best for working families. It is not our job, as union officials, to tell our members where they stand on certain things, but it is our pleasure to educate them on where an elected official stands upon their line of work,” he said.
Kelly singles out former Vice President Joe Biden while saying the Democratic nominee will have to win back labor voters who turned to Trump last time.
Right now it’s good to be a labor leader in Western Pennsylvania. The area is booming with so many energy jobs, Kelly is reminded of the heady days of the steel industry.
“Our city is absolutely on fire, and I could not be happier. We’re hiring on every level, our labor council is growing more than it ever has. We’re extremely excited in Western Pennsylvania,” he said.
The press and the party right now are focused on Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. But the candidates who are running would be wise to look down the road to both Pennsylvania and Ohio. Despite having late primary contests, these states have proven to be important in the last two open presidential primaries.
A candidate preaching about the Green New Deal and scorching Trump personally is less likely to appeal to some of these voters. The Green New Deal hits not just their jobs, but also their communities.
But a candidate like Biden, who last week, at the annual International Association of Firefighters Conference, was able to pull off a populist criticism of Trump rather than a personal attack, has the kind of rhetoric that will open the door for independent voters who might have a say in the primary — and who will definitely have a say in November 2020.
